Deluxe Mohs' Hardness Pick Set for Mineral Identification

by Mineralab

Product Features

• Four double-ended picks with eight points: 2 & 3, 4 & 5, 6 & 7, 8 & 9 on Mohs' Hardness Scale
• High quality brass pinch vises.
• A glass plate (hardness of about 5.5) which, when scratched, distinguishes hard from soft minerals
• A second hardness plate with a hardness value of 3.5.
• A streak plate for testing a mineral streak color

Product Description

Hardness is an important and quantifiable physical characteristic of a mineral and in your effort to identify an unknown mineral, the hardness, if known, combined with other properties, can narrow your search to just a handful of possibilities. Simply scratch a smooth surface of your unknown mineral with the picks of various indicated hardness. As an example, if a No. 5 pick scratches the mineral, but a No. 4 pick does not, then your mineral hardness is 4.5. Then compare this against a table of minerals listing hardness values to aid in identifying the unknown mineral. The Deluxe Hardness Pick Set from Mineralab is unique in that, unlike other mineral hardness test tool that use minerals or crystal points, Mineralab picks are made of metals and alloys of hardness values equal to 2 through 9 on Mohs hardness scale. Because the picks are made of metal, they are easily ground to sharp points which will not break off and which can be easily sharpened. Included in the Mineralab's Deluxe Hardness Pick Set: * Four double-ended picks with eight points comprising 2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7, 8 and 9 on Mohs' hardness scale. * High quality brass pinch vises. * A glass plate (hardness of about 5.5) which, when scratched, quickly distinguishes hard from soft minerals. * A second hardness plate with a hardness value of 3 5. * A white streak plate for testing a mineral's streak color. * A magnet to test magnetic rocks such as magnetite and pyrrhotite. * A 100 grit polishing stone to keep the points sharp. * An attractive, mahogany-finished and compact wooden case. * Hardness Table for 300 minerals * Complete usage instructions. Other Features: * All points are stamped with the indicated hardness value, and the pick body is color coded for quickly finding the desired pick. * Hardness points can be easily and inexpensively replaced without having to replace the pick bodies. * 1 year warranty.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 1.6 x 2.6 inches ; 1.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• ASIN: B000EGK51E
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A pretty good hardness pick set, June 20, 2006

By 

Goldeagle (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Deluxe Mohs' Hardness Pick Set for Mineral Identification (Misc.)

This Mohs' harndess pick set is made by Mineral Lab. The picture looks much bigger than the real set itself. You can get it cheaper here at Amazon.com than from Mineral Lab. Postage is a little bit stiff for such a small set. Comes with four metal pens with two hardness picks on each end (i.e. 2 & 3; 4 & 5; 6 & 7; 8 & 9). The 2 & 3 and 8 & 9 are almost worthless since I use mostly the middle two. Not the easy things to use. You have to keep the pick sharp and then you really have to press down to test the stones. Also, the numbers on the picks are difficult to read. I kept getting confused the 4 with the 7. You can almost buy one set and make it into two sets by purchasing extra replacement points from Mineral Lab and then turning them into two sets. The customer service of Amateur Geologist was extremely helpful but that of Mineral Lab was not quite as friendly. Is it really worth the money? It is really hard to say. I think it should sell at around the $ 45 to % 50 range. Also, the sharpener comes with the kit is way too small. However, this is the only hardness pick set available in the States.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, December 30, 2009

By 

W. Allen (Desert Southwest) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deluxe Mohs' Hardness Pick Set for Mineral Identification (Misc.)

Since it's the only kind available I give it 5 stars. It's a simple tool that makes mineral ID much easier. Case in point: I used it in a college geology lab. We did 5 series of mineral ID based mostly on visual clues (mohs, color, streak, crystal, etc..) and NOT things like HCl or specific gravities. For me the mohs test pushed me in the right direction each time. The fist series of tests(before I purchased this kit) I used common objects to determine the hardness. It took me 2 hours to accurately ID about 25 minerals. The mohs being the biggest challenge.

I then purchased this kit and was able to ID the next few series of minerals much more accurately and quickly. I combination with an Optivisor loupe I could easily see and note hardness.

So yea ,it's pricey, but it's a good tool. Quality made to last for a long long time. The picks are ample and I ID about 100 minerals and only re-tipped the softest and those just barely.

In my opinion these are a very good value for the geologist minded student or pro.

5.0 out of 5 stars Harness Testing the Easy way, March 26, 2011

By 

danfinrud - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Deluxe Mohs' Hardness Pick Set for Mineral Identification (Misc.)

A nice tool to help determine hardness of minerals. We often use knife and coins for rough hardness determination. Here is a way to get hardness of 2 to 9 in one easy package. Having the extra items of a streak plate and sharpening plate will allow the small picks to be used over and over again. The wooden box holding it together means everything is one place. Easy to find and not have to search for the tools in a drawer. Also comes with a nice list of 250 minerals and the range of their hardness. I did not know that Ice and Mica had the same Hardness range. 1.0 to 6.0 range. The chart is setup to list the hardness by Name or by Hardness. So you have two lists organized in a way to quickly find what you are looking for.